Contrary to my fears after finishing the exam, no real story has showed up in Atelier Firis since I started. Firis wanted to become an alchemist, she became an alchemist, now she’s just having fun here and there. This is the kind of Atelier I wanted to play, so I really like this game.
Sure, there’s something going on with the twins Meklet and Atomina and something they need my alchemy help to create, but they haven’t seen fit to share the full details with me yet, so I’m just chilling. They were annoying in Atelier Sophie and I never got to beat them up, so I’m not really interested in helping them.
There’s also a sub-story involving helping Firis’s sister Lia find her homeland. For once a Japanese game plays down the “not blood-related” aspect and insists they’re real sisters anyway. Good, Gust, good. But we still have to find her origins anyway, because she’s curious about her past, which is understandable enough. I’m not particularly curious, but it seems like it’s the only way to get access to certain parts of the map, and I’d really like to get to 100% or as close as possible before I drop the game (currently at 66% of the map explored).
Current stage: head to Grau-Tal to talk to Norbert and see what he knows about the earrings that are the only clue to Lia’s heritage. I’ve been doing quests and defeating enemies along the way, but those level 70 bosses… where the heck do they come from? Well I’ll just avoid them, it’s not that big a deal. If the story doesn’t move quickly after I talk to Norbert, I might just drop Atelier Firis and play something else. I really like it, but I’ve seen enough. For some reason I really want to play La Corda d’Oro again…
I finally bought Firis, so I’ll get to discover all that roaming goodness (and the rest) by myself. Maybe even soon, because I’m in quite an Atelier mood right now 😀
Go for it. I was just ready to pause my current playthrough when two new areas opened up, so now I’m busy again.